Les Bowen

STAFF WRITER

Les Bowen has covered the Eagles since 2002. Before that, he covered the Flyers for 13 years. He came to the Daily News from the Charlotte Observer in May 1983, just as the Sixers were winning the NBA championship. He thought, "Gosh, this sort of thing must happen all the time here."

Eagles head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder said Monday that center Jason Kelce has an MCL tear and a partial ACL tear in his right knee. Burkholder said the injury isn't necessarily season-ending; he said team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Peter DeLuca will do an arthroscope Tuesday and assess the state of the ACL. If it doesn't need repair, the Eagles might decide to brace the knee and let it heal on its own, in which case Kelce might be sidelined only 4 to 6 weeks.

Burkholder said around the league, treatment of similar injuries has been a "mixed bag." If DeLuca determines the ACL tear requires surgical repair, Kelce will be sidelined for the season.

Eagles coach Andy Reid said Dallas Reynolds will continue as Kelce's replacement. The team would seem to need to make a roster move to add a backup (Julian Vandervelde? Jamaal Jackson?) but until it is sure what the prognosis is for Reynolds, that's a tough call. Reid raised the issue of the new IR designation, which allows for one player to go on IR and return that season. But you don't want to use that slot for Kelce now and have DeLuca find tomorrow that there is no way Kelce is coming back in 2012. So, bottom line, there almost certainly won't be a roster move today.

Reynolds talked to reporters today about stepping in cold against the Ravens, about his three years on the practice squad, and about his unfortunate name; Reynolds joked that he was affronted the first time he walked into a meeting room and saw "Dallas Sucks" on the white board.

Reynolds said that it actually probably was better he "didn't have time to think about anything" when Kelce went down in the middle of a TD drive in the third quarter.

"Your training and your preparation just kind of pays off and takes over," Reynolds said.

***

Reid said left tackle King Dunlap (hamstring) will start this week at Arizona if he's healthy, but Reid indicated that is unlikely. Reid acknowledged Demetress Bell did a starting-quality job stepping in for Dunlap against the Ravens.

Reid said Jeremy Maclin added another hip contusion on top of the one he had and is sore. No indication of whether he'll be able to play.

Other injuries didn't seem serious -- Colt Anderson hyperextended his other knee, the one that didn't have the ACL tear, Jason Babin sustained a slight ab strain but continued to play.